7.09.2009

I really do need to say that I feel like Max and I have been extraordinarily blessed the past few months - especially as it pertains to our Israel plans. What a lot o' bit of tenacity and a lot o' bit of prayin' won't do, right?

We had a little bit of a crisis (well, what we thought was a crisis) with our Visa. We had to wait until our loan was approved to send in our Visa application (with our passports) and that didn't happen 'till very recently. Once we got our loan confirmation we put together our packet and overnighted our visa request...the day before the day before the 4th. We thought that would be fine and that they would get the package on the 3rd. But they were closed.

I should also tell you that we had been trying to get a hold of a human at the Israeli Consulate for 2 days straight with no luck. I finally got through to someone in a different department and basically said "I'm desperate, can you give me the direct number to the Visa department?" Which they did. I immediately pumped fist in the air and said to Max "I fought the law and I won!"

So after sending our Visa's overnight we found out that it wasn't delivered because the office was closed and that we, as the senders, could not request a second delivery. We had to wait for the consulate to request the package be sent...which is hard to do when you can't get a hold of them! We were panicking, not knowing how long it would take for them to process and return the Visas and our days are growing shorter.

We tried everything we knew with the mail carrying persons and finally I called (a little emotional I'll admit) and explained the situation to the nice woman from the federal office that delivers mail that I won't mention in case they have a blog crawler. The woman already asked if I was "authorized" and could request a resend (which I don't think I was) and when I finished my sob story she said

"Look, if you tell me that you are an authorized sender then I can request a second attempt" In the most professional way. "So, are you authorized to request a resend?"

I said to myself "Self, I am the sender of this package and I authorize it to be delivered a second time" ...so I said yes.

With visions of federal agents swarming my front door I feverishly checked the online confirmation code and YES it was delivered that very day!!

ALSO because we were so persistent/annoying the woman at the Israeli Consulate office called us back and we have become the best of friends over the past few days. We actually have her on speed dial and when we call her she recognizes our number and in a heavy Israeli accent says "Hello Mrs. Stoneman what can I do for you?" before I've even identified myself.

So, things are good. People are good. Our consulate angel processed our passports the day she received the letter and they should be back to us any day.